Container ship adrift off B.C. coast

A container ship has gone adrift about 207 nautical miles southwest of Haida Gwaii after an engine fire caused it to lose propulsion.

The MOL Prestige — a 293-metre, Singapore-flagged cargo ship — was reported in distress at 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Lieutenant Tony Wright of the Victoria Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said a Buffalo aircraft was dispatched to the scene and that the Canadian Coast Guard ship Sir Wilfrid Laurier is expected to arrive on scene at midnight tonight.

Columbia Valley RCMP and search and rescue members from Columbia Valley, Golden, Cranbrook, Kimberley and Creston, and the Police Dog Service are currenlty searching for a missing Cranbrook woman in the Jumbo Pass area.